Sixth-grade students at Ecker Hill Middle School flooded the cafeteria, which was decorated with red ribbons and posters that read, “Too Smart to Start.” They rushed over to tables with informational boards explaining “The Effects and Hazards of Smokeless Tobacco” accompanied by a jar filled with a jaw with teeth blackened by tobacco use.
It was the first day of Red Ribbon Week, and the school’s administrators decided Monday would be tobacco awareness day. According to Ecker Hill Middle School counseling secretary Becky Broadhead, students who are part of the Latinos in Action group and Student Council decorated the cafeteria before they left for the Utah Education Association (UEA) fall break which took place last week.
Ecker Hill kicked off Red Ribbon Week with an assembly first thing in the morning. Park City Police Department (PCPD) Officer Kasey Kiesel Bates and the rest of the PCPD Color Guard presented the American flag while police patrol played bagpipes and the sixth-grade choir, led by Rebecca Webber, sang the national anthem.
Bates then spoke with students about the history and significance of Red Ribbon Week, students pledged to lead drug-free lives and Red Ribbon Week wristbands were handed out.
Some students dressed in 80s attire for the theme of the day, “No matter the decade drugs kill,” including Broadhead. Her neon green t-shirt, hot pink tights and boots, black tutu and teased hair stood out in the hallway as she spoke with Parent Teacher Organization volunteers about the activities that took place during lunch and what prizes went to which students.
At a table next to a sign that read, “Using tobacco will knock the wind out of you,” there were four water-filled containers with floating rubber duckies and coffee straws. Students lined up at the four containers and had to use the straw to blow their duck to the opposite edge of the container. The first student to get their duck to the other edge won a lollipop.
Down the hall, other students competed in three-legged races, hopping toward the finish line. At the other end of the cafeteria, students rolled large dice as part of a tobacco question-and-answer game. Students rushed to finish their lunch in order to participate in activities centered around the week’s theme.
According to ImDrugFree.com, Red Ribbon Week is held every year in remembrance of Enrique “KiKi” Camarena, a United States Drug Enforcement Agency special agent who was sent to Mexico and was killed while investigating a Mexican drug cartel.
Red Ribbon Week is now a national campaign to help prevent drug abuse and addiction. Broadhead hopes this week’s activities will get students into the spirit and pledge to lead drug-free lives. Ecker Hill Middle School counselors Willow Amendola-Duncan and Marie Shepherd were among those helping Broadhead to coordinate the games and prizes.
“Becky [Broadhead] has been organizing Red Ribbon Week for years,” Shepherd said. “The kids look forward to it every year, and the teachers love her for it.”
Tuesday was slated as “No Bullying and Internet Safety Awareness Day,” and students were invited to wear pajamas to “Put Bullying to Sleep Forever.” During lunch, they competed in tug o’ war competitions, obstacle courses and pumpkin bowling. They also signed sticker pledges to not bully and discussed what “If You Really Knew Me” meant to them with Ecker Hill counselors later in the day.
Wednesday was scheduled as “Drug Awareness Day,” and students were welcome to wear their hair in “crazy” styles, because “It’s Crazy Not to Have a Natural High.” During lunch, Broadhead planned on students signing a banner saying what their natural high was, competing in basketball throwing competitions to “slam dunk drugs forever” and participating in gunny sack races to “jump away from drugs.”
Thursday will be “Alcohol Awareness Day,” and students will be able to dress up like clowns in accordance with the theme, “No clowning around, drugs can kill you.” Bates will be back at the school during lunch with goggles that impair vision. She will give students sobriety tests with the goggles on so they can experience the effects of alcohol.
“We hope that if we get them thinking about this when they are young enough, we can have an impact on the decision they will make when they are older and it comes time for them to say ‘yes’ or ‘no,” Broadhead said.